Many civilian workers, national parks affected by government shutdown

The big story this morning - the U-S government is partially shut down. Lawmakers in the House and the Senate failed to agree on a spending bill to fund the government by midnight. The senate will re-convene at 9-30 this morning. Senate majority leader Harry Reid says they will not meet with the House until they present a spending bill without anti- health care amendments tacked on. 3 Here's what the shutdown means by the numbers. More than 800-thousand non-essential federal employees will be furloughed...all of them unsure when they'll be able to go back to work or even get paid again. This cost - about one-billion-dollars a week. A three-to-four week shutdown could cost the economy about 55-billion dollars. Keep in mind - all 533 current members of Congress will still get their checks, and so will the President. A new C-N-N poll shows public support for Congress is at a record low - at just ten-percent. 3 Now - some federal workers will still have to go to work today - but for roughly ONLY FOUR HOURS. These workers will be limited to doing work related to the shutdown, like posting "out- of-office" emails, or changing voicemails. Furloughed employees are being instructed not to do anything work- related like checking emails. 3 This is a LIVE Look at the Fort in St. Augustine - which is not expected to open today because of the government shutdown. All national parks and museums will be closed. In our area, that includes Fort Caroline National Memorial, Timucuan Ecological and Cumberland Island National Seashore. Besides visitors being turned away - more than 21-thousand national parks employees will be furloughed. 3 00 - 05 3 Shortly after the shutdown went into effect - President Obama issued a video statement to military members and Department of Defense employees. He assured them they will continue to get their paychecks on time. When the Senate meets again this morning, we will monitor what happens, and of course bring you the latest on our news at noon. 3 Other top stories we are following - health care reform. following - health care reform. Today marks the first day of the open enrollment period for the affordable care act. That means roughly 48- million people across the country who don't have health insurance can start shopping around for a plan. What you will do is visit health care dot gov - the website set up for you to shop for policies. The competitive plans will all offer coverage - but with different monthly premiums, which means different deductibles and co-pays. If you sign up before December 14th, your health coverage starts January first. Open enrollment ends March 31st next year - the time where penalties begin. Now stick around - because at 8-15, we have a health care expert answering YOUR questions when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. 3

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

The Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate could not agree on a spending plan by midnight, so what was deemed the nonessential services of the federal government shut down overnight.

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The shutdown will stop 800,000 federal government workers or contractors from getting paid and could cost the economy about $1 billion a week.

So what does this mean for Jacksonville?

Active duty troops will still get paid. The Senate approved a House-approved measure Monday to ensure members of the military would continue to get paid during the shutdown. Obama signed off on it just before midnight.

"You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we're seeing in Congress," the president said in a video message to troops and Defense Department employees early Tuesday morning.

About 1,000 civilian employees of the Florida National Guard were given furlough notices Tuesday morning. About 100 of them are in north Florida. "This furlough is not expected to exceed 30 calendar days," a letter to staff reads.

"I don't know if the people in government realize how hard and long our human resources works and how much paperwork it takes ... and how much it really costs -- the bottom dollar -- to shut everything down," said Crystal McMairy, a National Guard employee, as she joined other people in closing down her office Tuesday morning.

Active-duty National Guard will continue on the job, and the adjutant general of local guardsmen said he has the option to call back employees in the event of an emergency.

"We can bring people in on state on active duty to support in the event of a hurricane or storm," Gen. Emmett Titshaw said. "And, under emergency authority, I can bring people back in to protect life limb or property in an emergency situation. But under normal circumstances, they are gone and not being paid for the rest of the week."

The 2,500 civilian employees of the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast -- aircraft maintenance facility at NAS Jacksonville -- will continue to work and get paid, the Navy told Channel 4.

It's uncertain how the shutdown will affect military veterans, including the 3.3 million who are disabled.

If the shutdown stretches into late October, the Veterans Affairs Department -- meaning disability and pension checks could stop for elderly and ill veterans. Processing of disability appeals and other administrative services will be reduced.

Rear Adm. V. Guillory (retired), who is director of Military, Veterans and Disabled Services for the city of Jacksonville, said ship movements and flight operations at area Navy bases may be reduced or suspended during the shutdown.

National parks and museums in the area are closed.

In Jacksonville, that means the Fort Caroline National Memorial and Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Kingsley Plantation are not open. City parks with in Timucuan remain open.

Not only were visitors forced to turn around Tuesday, but employees now have to worry about getting paid. Park officials for Fort Caroline and Timucuan say 30 of their 32 employees were sent home on furlough.

"Some of our employees live paycheck to paycheck, and so they will get a paycheck today for the last two weeks. Then we don't know what happens after that," parks superintendent Barbara Goodman said.

In St. Augustine, Castillo De San Marcos and Fort Matanzas are not open.

"We were fortunate enough to be able to see what was going to happen and we toured the fort yesterday before the shutdown," said Nelson Shirley, who's visiting from Lakeland. "So we were one of the lucky ones here. We've seen hundreds of people come today and be turned away."

In south Georgia, Cumberland Island National Seashore and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge are closed.

Across the country, national parks bring in about $450,000 a day.

Two senior services programs operated by the city of Jacksonville are directly funded by the federal government, and the employees who monitor the Foster Grandparent and Retired Senior Volunteer programs are on furlough.

A spokesman for mayor says grant-funded programs will continue, but technical assistance for federal grants will be shut down as of Friday.

As for what will continue during the shutdown:

Social Security checks will still be sent out, and mail will also be delivered.

Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act are not affected. So if you are on medicare, you can still go see your doctor.

The U.S Postal Service will not be affected.

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